Talk:Skill/@comment-24353761-20141017213341
Having played through the game (on Normal difficulty) with another Earth Pony (namely, Pinkie Pie), I now have a newfound respect for the Shield, the Kunai and the Grenade, which, along with the Boomerang and the Axe, helped me defeat the Diamond Dogs. The Shield is very easy to max; just go back to the Everfree Forest, get some alone time with a Skeleton, jump up, throw out a Shield and hang out under it while the Skeleton lobs his bones at it, while you leap back up and throw out another Shield after every second bone the Skeleton lobs. Once your Shields have blocked enough bones, your little red shield will turn into a twice-larger, spiky purple shield, which is even better at blocking projectiles and does more damage to enemies walking into it. You'll find the big purple Shield to be invaluable at protecting you from Medusa Heads in Cloudsdale, and it will also protect you from a Harpy's blasts while you bring her down with Kunai, Knives, Axes or your main weapon. I also had a bit of luck using Grenades, Knives or Boomerangs in tandem with Shields to fight Ursa Minor; hide behind a shield and chuck your other weapons at Ursa Minor, or stick the shield right in her face for small but continuous damage. The Kunai becomes pretty fierce once it's maxed, as it turns from three little kunai to five big kunai launched in the same spread. Crouch and throw your maxed Kunai at those bothersome Harpies, Poison Shades and Amalaric Snipers for easier kills; though the Axe is also good for killing these enemies (and often hits them twice in the same lob), the Kunai can tag them at farther ranges. The Grenade, even when non-maxed, makes Stone Roses, Treants and Lizardponies cake; when maxed, the Grenade's explosion becomes larger and more powerful, so you can toss them at Stone Roses from further away (thus, giving you a little more time to defend yourself from whatever skulls and spores the Stone Rose spits at you). I also had a bit of luck using both Grenade and Dragon Fire to fight the Wolfpony, tossing Dragon Fire at him when he was close and Grenades at him when he was not so close; even though my Grenade wasn't maxed at the time, they still proved to be quite effective against the Wolfpony. And, of course, the Axe, the Knife, the Dragon Fire and the Boomerang are good bread-and-butter skill weapons as well. Both the Boomerang and the Knife (all maxed) are invaluable for defeating the Hydra; jump up between the Hydra's heads and throw the boomerangs (but be careful to avoid catching them with subsequent jumps) when the Hydra's spitting loogies at you and trying to bite you on the dock, then switch to the maxed Knife, get some distance from the Hydra and start flinging knives at the Hydra's body while it's chasing you through the swamp. Doing this, I was able to kill the Hydra well before reaching the island at the end of the Hydra's chase. The boomerangs are also handy against enemies who are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage (such as those bothersome Bomber Armors) and, if you gauge the distance just right, you can catch an enemy right at the end of a boomerang's forward arc, hitting that enemy an extra three or four times before the boomerang returns; this is easier to do with larger, less mobile enemies such as Ursa Minor or one of the Hydra's heads. As I hinted before, slotting both Boomerang and Grenade is a lovely way to get some easy, punishing hits on the Diamond Dogs. The very moment Rover finishes his speech, immediately chuck two boomerangs and two grenades while you have all three Diamond Dogs bunched together; beaucoup damage will ensue. After that, use the Boomerang to chain a mess of hits together and deflect Rover's gem attacks, toss Grenades at Rover and Fido as often as you can and, once Rover and Fido are out of the fight, switch to the Axe or the Kunai (along with Dragon Fire, Knife or other ground weapon of your choice) so you can send Spot after them; throw your air attack weapon while he's in the ceiling, and your ground attack weapon while he's on or in the floor. It's plenty easier than pogo-jumping on Fido's head with Drop Kicks, and this approach is a lot more punishing for the Diamond Dogs. Now for the uglies: The Tome is not all that useful, I must say. Even though it's clearly meant to be used as a defensive weapon, it is a bit too slow and too small (even when maxed) to be effective in that role. My Axes and Boomerangs were more handy at bringing down circling Windigos than my Tome was. The Tome can also be knocked out of the air by an enemy's melee attacks, as I learned all the times I tried throwing a Tome at a Bone Scimitar while I was close enough to trigger the Bone Scimitar's sword swing. On top of that, you can only have one Tome in the air at a time, and it'll keep spiraling around for a fairly long time before you can toss another one. So while the Tome can be handy for smacking enemies multiple times, and its damage is pretty good, other skills can serve your needs just as well--if not better--and without the Tome's drawbacks. The Steel Ball is also a less-than-handy skill weapon. It doesn't go very far in front of you at all; at that range, you can do more damage simply by thrashing the enemy with your main weapon, even if the Steel Ball's maxed. The Steel Ball is nice to have if you're standing on the edge of a platform and an enemy's right below you, but that kind of fortuitous positioning doesn't happen very often. And of course, the Bone is just plain bad if you're an Earth Pony. Its randomness makes it impractical; you're bound to throw a large bone when you need a small bone's range, and you're bound to throw a small bone when you need a large bone's greater damage at close range. Aside from that, anything Bone can do, Axe can do better. Use Bone if you have nothing better to throw, but expect to waste plenty of MP from all the missed shots while you're using it And I've never seen a Rebound Gem; judging by its lack of an entry, neither has anyone else. I was hoping that you could find a Rebound Gem while fighting the Diamond Dogs (as one of Spot's attacks fits the description of a "rebound gem"), but so far, nothing yet.